


Keeping Faith

by misura



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Gen, Jossed, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 13:38:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5787232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Is it significant, do you think, that he did not tell you he loved you?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keeping Faith

_I'm sorry._

Laurent had had the note sent to him. Laurent was a cold son of a bitch, with no offense meant to his royal mother who had, by all accounts, been a lovely lady.

Auguste had been golden; Laurent's father had been a good king - you had to wonder, sometimes, what had happened to make Laurent become the way he was. Not out loud, of course.

"Is it significant, do you think, that he did not tell you he loved you?"

Jord did not particularly want to talk to Laurent right now. He could think of no reason for Laurent to want to talk to _him_ , either.

"No," he said. He did not know how Aimeric had felt, not really. It was not a pleasant idea.

"Perhaps he imagined I might spare your life if he kept it brief. At the very least," Laurent went on, "he was thinking of you in the end. A little late, of course."

A little late. Jord understood about loyalty. He understood about family. He did not, he thought, want to understand about the Regent tumbling some half-grown boy and convincing him it was love. It was a perversion. A travesty.

"If he'd come to you earlier - " Not a good question to ask. What was the point?

"He would never have come to me," Laurent said. "To you, perhaps. If you'd been better in bed."

Jord felt himself flush. He and Aimeric had talked - of their youth, of their plans, of what they might do, once Laurent had ascended to the throne. Jord had gone over every memory, looking for some cue he'd missed, some hint that he might have caught. Some moment during which he might have said _I love you, I can forgive you anything_ and have it make a difference.

"It must be," said Laurent, "somewhat embarrassing to know you weren't that good."

 _How does it feel to have an aristocrat suck your dick?_ Lazar had asked, once, and Aimeric had looked at him and replied _Fantastic_.

"I assume your own standards probably weren't that high."

Damen had sent him out of the room, once. To spare him from hearing these things. At the time, it might have been a kindness.

"Maybe you're right," Jord said. It was not an easy admission to make. It would have been harder to argue that Aimeric had truly loved him, though. To argue that Aimeric had truly loved Jord and yet had still betrayed the Prince Jord had sworn his loyalty to.

Laurent arched an eyebrow. "Only maybe? Do tell me why there should be any doubt as to whether or not I'm right."

Cold was not the same as cruel. A cold man would do and say things with no regard for another man's feelings. A cruel man would do and say them with the intention to hurt, for his own pleasure.

Was Laurent a cruel man?

"Well?"

"I was wrong. I made a mistake." A mistake that could have cost Laurent and every man in his guard their lives. "I betrayed your trust."

"I am," said Laurent, "entirely aware of your short-comings."

"I failed you. And him, too." He had failed everybody, really. Whatever fate Laurent had planned for him, Jord deserved it.

Laurent's lips pressed together a little more tightly. "If you're trying to apologize, suggesting I had as much of a right to expect your loyalty as a whore is somewhat counter-productive."

Jord swallowed. "I'm sorry. You have every right to - I'm sorry."

"Would he have folded as easily as you, do you think?" Laurent asked. "I considered offering him your life by way of an incentive to tell me what I wanted to know. Torture is always so messy, after all, and it's easy to slip up and reduce someone to the point where they can't talk coherently at all anymore. Bribing him with something worthless seemed easier."

What did you say to something like that? Thank you? After all, Laurent was saying, in a roundabout sort of way, that Aimeric _had_ loved Jord, at least enough that Laurent would have used Jord as leverage against him, to break Aimeric's loyalty to the Regent and his own family.

"I need someone whose loyalty is beyond doubt. Naturally, yours was the first name that occurred to me," Laurent said. Nothing in his tone suggested he was joking.

A suicide mission, then. "Thank you."

"Don't expect me to welcome you back if you should happen to survive," Laurent said.


End file.
